In wireless networks, backhaul refers to transmission facilities for carrying traffic from a base station associated with a wireless antenna to a network controller such as a base station controller. In general, backhaul traffic is transported over T1, E1, and similar links deployed between the base station and the network controller. Wireless service providers typically pay local service providers leased-line expenses for such backhaul links. Typically, such charges depend on the distances between the base stations and the associated network controllers. Therefore, most wireless service providers face large recurring operational expenses for providing backhaul transport.
A number of tools for analyzing backhaul network transport expenses have been developed. Unfortunately, such tools require enormous quantities of information, such as locations of base stations, traffic demands per base station and the like. The gathering, processing and analysis of such information is tedious and time-consuming and, therefore, expensive. Gathering of such information is especially difficult for an equipment vendor without an embedded base of products in the wireless service provider network. Furthermore, much of the required input information is sensitive information that many wireless service providers are unwilling to disclose to the equipment vendor performing the backhaul network transport expense analysis.